The Heart Awakening: Falling in Love with Everybody

I feel like pausing from the string of blog posts about cultivating an awakening to talk to those of you within the spiritual awakening process. In earlier blog posts, I've talked about how to connect to your heart. The work to do this always starts with you, and then it spreads out to others. Ultimately, there is no other, and we are all one. At the start of the spiritual path, this seems like an absurdity spouted off by non-dualists and other people trying to be profound and impressive. You may poke a friend and say, "You feel very different from me," proving your point that you end at your fingertip. That's essentially where we all start out within the confines of the ego, but as the ego dissolves, so too do those boundaries. And when the heart awakens, a whole new world unfolds.

I AM Love!
I believe that when the heart awakens you'll never see the world the same. Over night, you become an unwavering advocate for all life--from the tiniest ant to the foulest dictator. All the ways where separateness ruled your life, those melt away. It's an incredibly powerful awakening, although I don't consider it the only one. When body, heart, and mind all awaken, the soul comes into its full embodied awakening. The heart is an amazing piece of this journey, and if you've come to this place, it may be hard to stop smiling. You are love. How could you not smile?

Appreciating the Pain of Others
Standing in the space of your heart--in the space of boundless and unconditional love--is extraordinary. But others aren't there. In this space, this last sentence is an absurdity. I know that if you're reading this from a heart awakening then my suggestion that anyone is not also in this space makes no sense. Because you get it. You see the ultimate truth of interconnection and you see the threads of love running throughout everything. Your energy may even be drawing out this love from all those around you, sending their unconsciousness and pain into remission. In yet others, the pain may come forth more vehemently, trying to be acknowledged and healed by you. And truly you can do it. But it's not yours to heal.

The deeper loving awareness tempered by an awakened mind is able to see and appreciate the pain that others live in without trying to change it. Ultimately, there is nothing to change, and in this world, it is important to appreciate the suffering that others have chosen. Just as you will have seen how virtually all of your suffering has been created by you, now you must learn to love and appreciate others and their suffering.

Others' Suffering Doesn't Mean You Have to Suffer Too
Your heart energy is now immense. A part of you wants to save the world. A part of you wants to wipe out and end suffering all at once because you know that it can be done. You know that suffering can all end in one singular instant because you no longer believe in the ego and its games of time and separation. You are right. It can happen this way. The entire world can wake up in this one moment, but just as you had to follow your path to such profound love, so too do others. With that said, you no longer need to suffer with others while they get there. You will certainly be able to aid and assist those who are ready to heal, but no one can ever be carried into awakening. No one can have their suffering removed from them (except from time to time, God's grace gets offered in some situations--but no one can influence that intervention).

So I urge you not to suffer needlessly again. I know you want to share your heart with everyone, but it's not yet time to do so. Those with awakened hearts still need to respect the limitations of their energy and body. True heart awakening knows that the awakened self--while illusory--still needs to be nurtured and protected as much as all those others. And I know that this still may be hard to understand if you're so completely awakened that other/self is a dual concept that no longer makes sense. But rest assured, much like you have to feed the body with food (which is a physical version of duality), you have to feed and care for your heart as a separate entity too.

The Beauty of an Awakened Heart
This is a profoundly beautiful time for you. You will see the best in everyone. No problem can't be overcome. No wound cannot be healed. This is truth. This is ultimate reality. But you will also have to learn to respect the duality that most people live in on this world. And most of the world isn't ready to live in such a high energy space. When survival is the primary mode of existence, that's what must be addressed first. But we are all headed in this awakened direction, and with a lot of patience and love, pretty soon many people's hearts will wake up and fall in love with everybody.

Thanks for the compliment, Laura. I don't know anything about tonglen, but it sounds like a beautiful path. In general, an awakened heart is a whole new way of feeling and feeling about the world. Where an awakened mind thinks differently, an awakened heart embraces and loves the world.

Hi Corinne. Thanks for your comment. This blog post really was written towards those in the heart awakening. Most people aren't in that space. Most people are still learning how to open their heart and how to heal it because we have to clear the old wounds for our hear to fully awaken. Here are some blogs about that:http://www.spiritualawakeningprocess.com/2010/11/opening-closed-heart.htmlhttp://www.spiritualawakeningprocess.com/2010/11/healing-broken-heart.html